Various embodiments of fastening devices of the type described are used in both passenger cars and trucks. The supporting bolts used to mount the pedals usually consist of metal and have various designs in terms of their embodiment and position relative to the pedal block accommodating the pedals and the supporting bolt.
For example, the metal bolts used may be pressed on one side into the pedal block and may be provided with a knurling on the opposite mounting side accommodated in the pedal block. The pressing and knurling of the metal bolt guarantee that it will not change its position under any operating conditions and especially also in case of an accident. Furthermore, metal bolts provided with a securing element, e.g., a retaining ring, instead of a knurling, and in which fixation of the position is thus brought about, have been known from the prior art. Furthermore, embodiments designed as threaded bolts with a stop on one side, which are fixed by means of a nut, are also known as supporting bolts.
It is common to all exemplary embodiments described that they are designed such that they remain in their position in case of an accident, and the pedal mounted by means of the supporting bolt is possibly removed from the area of the foot of the vehicle's driver due to rotation around this supporting bolt.
Moreover, there are fastening devices known under the name pedal release system in the prior art, in which the walls of the pedal block are enlarged in their original distance from each other in case of an accident, so that the supporting bolt mounted on both sides in the walls and the pedal fastened thereto are released in order to reduce the risk of accident in the area of the driver's foot. The knurlings or securing elements mentioned are, of course, to be designed in such fastening systems such that they will not offer any substantial resistance in case of an accident to the forces now occurring to widen the pedal block. The drawback of all existing systems is that a plurality of manufacturing steps are necessary for fixing the supporting bolt for mounting the pedal on the pedal block.